Comprehensive and Coordinated Response to the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Pandemic

A/RES/74/306View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda items 14 Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields and 120 Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations, published in 2019.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Covid-19 Disease Control Disease Prevention International Cooperation

What’s in this document?

58 operative paragraphs

Multilateralism and solidarity

Reaffirms its commitment to international cooperation, multilateralism and solidarity at all levels and as the only way for the world to effectively respond to global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and their consequences, and acknowledges the key leadership role of the World Health Organization and the fundamental role of the United Nations system in catalysing and coordinating the comprehensive global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the central efforts of Member States therein;

Calls for intensified international cooperation and solidarity to contain, mitigate and overcome the pandemic and its consequences through responses that are people-centred, gender-responsive, with full respect for human rights, multidimensional, coordinated, inclusive, innovative, swift and decisive at all levels, including by supporting the exchange of information, scientific knowledge and best practices through, inter alia, the development of new interoperable data tools and the strengthening of platforms to inform mitigation and response actions and continuously monitor the impact of the pandemic, especially to assist people in vulnerable situations and the poorest and most vulnerable countries, to build a more equitable, inclusive, sustainable and resilient future and to get back on track to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;1

Supports the Secretary-General’s appeal for an immediate global ceasefire, including to help to create corridors for life-saving aid, open windows for diplomacy of dialogue and bring hope to places and people among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, notes with concern the impact of the pandemic on conflict-affected States as well as those at risk of conflict, and that conditions of violence and instability in conflict situations can exacerbate the pandemic, and that inversely the pandemic can exacerbate the adverse humanitarian impact of conflict situations, and supports the continued work of United Nations peacekeeping operations in delivering their mandates and supporting national authorities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, within their mandates and capacities, in collaboration with the Resident Coordinator and other United Nations entities in the country, and in this regard takes note of Security Council resolution 2532 (2020) of 1 July 2020;

Calls upon Member States, who have the primary responsibility to counter discrimination and hate speech, and all relevant actors, including political and religious leaders, to promote inclusion and unity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent, speak out and take strong action against racism, xenophobia, hate speech, violence, discrimination, including on the basis of age, and stigmatization;

Calls upon States to ensure that all human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled while combating the pandemic and that their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are in full compliance with their human rights obligations and commitments;

Jointly protecting

Calls upon Member States to put in place a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response, outlining both immediate and long-term actions, with a view to sustainably strengthening their health system and social care and support systems, and preparedness and response capacities, engaging with communities and collaborating with relevant stakeholders, and also calls upon Member States to maintain the continued functioning of the health system and strengthening of primary health care in all relevant aspects necessary for an effective public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing epidemics, and the uninterrupted and safe provision of population- and individual-level services, for, inter alia, communicable diseases, including by ensuring the continuation of undisrupted vaccination programmes, neglected tropical disease prevention and control, non-communicable diseases, mental health and mother and child health, and to promote access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and safe, sufficient and nutritious food and the enjoyment of a diversified, balanced and healthy diet, recognizing in this regard the importance of increased domestic financing and development assistance where needed in the context of achieving universal health coverage;

Calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure the right of women and girls to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development,5 the Beijing Platform for Action4 and the outcome documents of their review conferences, and to develop sustainable health systems and social services, with a view to ensuring universal access to such systems and services without discrimination;

Calls upon Member States to strengthen efforts to address communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and hepatitis, as part of universal health coverage and to ensure that the fragile gains are sustained and expanded by advancing comprehensive approaches and integrated service delivery and ensuring that no one is left behind;

Also calls upon Member States to further strengthen efforts to address non-communicable diseases as part of universal health coverage, recognizing that people living with non-communicable diseases are at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms and are among the most impacted by the pandemic;

Encourages Member States to address mental health in their response to and recovery from the pandemic by ensuring widespread availability of emergency mental health and psychosocial support;

Calls upon international organizations and other relevant stakeholders to support all countries, upon their request, in the implementation and review of their multisectoral national action plans and in strengthening their health systems to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in maintaining the safe provision of all other essential public health functions and services;

Urges Member States to enable all countries to have unhindered, timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable diagnosis, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines, and essential health technologies, and their components, as well as equipment, for the COVID-19 response;

Recognizes the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good for health in preventing, containing and stopping transmission in order to bring the pandemic to an end, once safe, quality, efficacious, effective, accessible and affordable vaccines are available;

Calls upon Member States, with support from the United Nations system, to coordinate efforts to develop a science- and evidence-based, cooperative and comprehensive approach to allocating scarce resources for combating the COVID-19 pandemic based on public health needs;

Encourages Member States to work in partnership with all relevant stakeholders to increase research and development funding for vaccines and medicines, leverage digital technologies, and strengthen scientific international cooperation necessary to combat COVID-19 and to bolster coordination, including with the private sector, towards rapid development, manufacturing and distribution of diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines, including antiviral medicines and medical science-based treatment protocols, and vaccines, and personal protective equipment, and explore ways to consider integrating, as appropriate, safe and evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine services, according to national context and priorities, adhering to the objectives of efficacy, safety, equity, accessibility, and affordability, while taking into account and supporting existing mechanisms, tools and initiatives, such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, and relevant pledging appeals;

Reaffirms the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) as amended, and also reaffirms the 2001 World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which recognizes that intellectual property rights should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the right of Member States to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all, and notes the need for appropriate incentives in the development of new health products;

Calls upon Member States to increase the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts to inform COVID-19 responses, while respecting the right to privacy;

Calls upon Member States and other relevant stakeholders to keep food and agriculture supply chains functioning, ensure the continued trade in and movement of food and livestock, products and inputs essential for agricultural and food production to markets, minimize food loss and waste, support workers and farmers, including women farmers, in agriculture and food supply chains to continue their essential work, including cross-border, in a safe manner, mobilize and allocate adequate resources and enhance institutional capacities for an accelerated implementation of sustainable agriculture and food systems, provide continued access to adequate, safe, affordable and nutritious food, and provide adequate social safety nets and assistance to minimize the negative effects of loss of livelihoods and increasing food prices on food insecurity and malnutrition, and underlines that the pandemic is exacerbating existing high levels of acute food insecurity and humanitarian needs;

Reaffirms the need to ensure the safe, timely and unhindered access of humanitarian and medical personnel responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their means of transport, supplies and equipment, and to support, facilitate and enable transportation and logistical supply lines, in order to allow such personnel to efficiently and safely perform their task of assisting affected civilian populations, and in this regard also reaffirms the need to take the measures necessary to respect and protect such personnel, hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as their means of transportation, supplies and equipment; and recalls its resolution 46/182 of 19 December 1991 on the strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations and all subsequent General Assembly resolutions on the subject, including its resolution 74/118 of 16 December 2019;

Strongly urges States to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries;

Calls upon Member States to ensure protection for those most affected, women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, older persons, indigenous peoples, refugees and internally displaced persons and migrants, and the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population, and prevent all forms of discrimination, especially in the context of timely, universal, inclusive, equitable and non-discriminatory access to safe, quality, effective and affordable health care and services and medical supplies and equipment, including diagnostics, therapeutics, medicine and vaccines, and to leave no one behind, with an endeavour to reach the furthest behind first, founded on the dignity of the human person and reflecting the principles of equality and non-discrimination;

Also calls upon Member States to prevent the harmful effects of the pandemic on children by mitigating the damaging socioeconomic impacts, including by ensuring the continuity of child-centred services on an equal access basis, upholding the right of the child to education and supporting education that is inclusive, equitable and of quality by implementing appropriate measures, including by supporting families in ensuring the return of children, in particular girls and children in vulnerable situations, to school, when it is safe to do so, in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and while in confinement, to support school systems, teachers and families in ensuring a reliable source of daily nutrition and using accessible and inclusive distance-learning solutions to close the digital divide, while protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation in digital contexts, and recalling that no child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy and family;

Calls upon Member States and other stakeholders to prevent, monitor and address the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on older persons, including the particular risks that they face in accessing social protection and health services, and to ensure that health-care decisions affecting older persons respect their dignity and promote their human rights, including the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Also calls upon Member States and other stakeholders to include persons with disabilities in all stages of policymaking and decision-making related to COVID-19 response and recovery, as well to eliminate barriers and discrimination against persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, in accessing support and health-care services on an equal basis with others, and to prevent, monitor and address the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on persons with disabilities, including the lack of accessible communications, support and services, as well as the unique challenges and barriers that they will face following the end of the pandemic;

Calls upon Member States to take all the measures necessary to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers, and to continue to support them and their families in response to the economic and social challenges that they face;

Also calls upon Member States to integrate prevention, mitigation and response efforts and reinforce plans and structures to counter the increase of sexual and gender-based violence, including domestic violence and violence in digital contexts, and harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage as part of their COVID-19 responses, including by maintaining and designating protection shelters, hotlines and help desks, health and support services as well as legal protection and support as essential services for all women and girls;

Further calls upon Member States to adopt measures to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and the feminization of poverty, which is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including through poverty eradication measures, labour policies, public services and gender-responsive social protection programmes;

Acknowledges the critical role that women are playing in COVID-19 response efforts, and urges Member States to ensure full, equal and meaningful participation in decision-making and equal access to leadership and representation in all spheres of society for women, having in mind the need for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, as well as for older persons and youth, and for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population, and to fully respect, protect and fulfil existing commitments and obligations with respect to the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, as part of their COVID-19 response;

Takes note of the United Nations communications response initiative, and re-emphasizes the importance, in the context of public health, of ensuring public access to information and protecting fundamental freedoms, in accordance with the international human rights obligations of States and national legislation, recognizing therefore the important contribution of the promotion and protection of the safety of journalists in this regard, and recognizes the importance of the free flow of information and knowledge, while taking steps to counter the spread of misinformation and disinformation online and offline, including through the dissemination of accurate, clear and evidence- and science-based information, bearing in mind the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds;

Recovering together

Calls upon Member States and other relevant stakeholders to advance, with determination, bold and concerted actions to address the immediate social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, while striving to get back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by designing recovery strategies out of the crisis to accelerate progress towards the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as helping to reduce the risk of future shocks;

Calls upon Member States to design recovery strategies based on risk-informed, sustainable financing policies, supported by integrated national financing frameworks in accordance with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development,2 to enact the policies necessary to address the economic crisis and depression, begin economic recovery and minimize the negative effects on livelihoods, including targeted measures for poverty eradication, social protection for formal and informal sector workers, increased access to finance and capacity-building for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, financial inclusion mechanisms, strong fiscal stimulus packages and supportive monetary policies, and calls upon donors and other stakeholders to support countries that lack the capacity to implement such measures, in particular least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as low- and middle-income countries;

Welcomes the steps taken by the Group of 20 and the Paris Club to provide a time-bound suspension of debt service payments for the poorest countries and by international financial institutions to provide liquidity and other support measures to ease the debt burden of developing countries, and encourages all relevant actors, including private and commercial creditors, to address risks of debt vulnerabilities, through existing channels, in developing countries due to the pandemic;

Stresses the important role that official development assistance plays in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources domestically, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals;

Invites Member States, as appropriate, to consider the experience achieved by the international community in countering the COVID-19 pandemic through enhancing the effective implementation of relevant international conventions and multilateral instruments on transport and transit with the aim of promoting global sustainable transport;

Emphasizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functioning of open markets, global supply chain connectivity and the flow of essential goods, and that these disruptions hinder the fight against poverty, hunger and inequality, ultimately undermining efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reaffirms that emergency measures must be targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary, that they must not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains, and that they must be consistent with World Trade Organization rules, and calls upon Member States to reaffirm the critical importance of connected global supply chains in ensuring the unimpeded flow of vital medical and food supplies and other essential goods and services across borders, by air, by land and by sea;

Encourages donors to leverage the global Aid for Trade agenda to enable developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to benefit from the opportunities afforded by global value chains and foreign investment in their sustainable recovery efforts;

Emphasizes the need to strengthen development cooperation and to increase access to concessional finance, especially in the context of the global pandemic, and calls upon donors that have not done so to intensify their efforts to fulfil their respective official development assistance commitments, particularly to least developed countries;

Also emphasizes that illicit financial flows, in particular those caused by tax evasion, corruption and transnational organized crime, reduce the availability of vital resources for responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and financing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and calls upon Member States to recommit to addressing the challenges of preventing and combating illicit financial flows and strengthening international cooperation and good practices on assets return and recovery, including by more effective measures to implement existing obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption²⁸ and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto,²⁹ and to implement effective, inclusive and sustainable measures to prevent and combat corruption within the framework of the 2030 Agenda;

²⁸United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2349, No. 42146.

²⁹Ibid., vols. 2225, 2237, 2241 and 2326, No. 39574.

Calls upon Member States and international financial institutions to provide more liquidity in the financial system, especially in all developing countries, and supports the continued examination of the broader use of special drawing rights to enhance the resilience of the international monetary system;

Calls upon Member States and all relevant stakeholders to promote research and capacity-building initiatives, as well as to enhance cooperation on and access to science, innovation, technologies, technical assistance and knowledge-sharing, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, especially with developing countries, in a collaborative, coordinated and transparent manner and on mutually agreed terms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and towards advancing the Sustainable Development Goals;

Building back better

Reaffirms its full commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as the blueprint for building back better after the pandemic, and calls upon Member States to ensure that efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for all, by reaching all its Goals and targets, are strengthened and accelerated in this decade of action for building more sustainable, peaceful, just, equitable, inclusive and resilient societies where no one is left behind and to make sustainable long-term investments to eradicate poverty in all its forms, as well as address inequalities and human rights abuses or violations, which have greatly exacerbated vulnerabilities and increased the negative effects of the pandemic and address climate change and the environmental crisis in order to build a better future for all;

Recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has tested the capacity of institutions, reaffirms its commitment to promote good governance at all levels and to develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions and more responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making processes, and calls upon Member States, with support from the United Nations system, to ensure a risk-informed response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, including by redoubling efforts to resolve or prevent conflict and to support post-conflict countries;

Emphasizes that the crisis provides an opportunity to consider the international debt architecture and the international financial system, with a view to its strengthening;

Calls upon Member States to build, strengthen and promote health systems, including primary health care, that are strong, resilient, functional, well governed, responsive, accountable, integrated, community-based, people-centred and capable of quality service delivery, supported by a competent health workforce, adequate health infrastructure and essential public health functions and capacities, enabling legislative and regulatory frameworks, as well as sufficient and sustainable funding, calls upon donors and other relevant stakeholders to support countries that lack the capacity to implement such measures, recognizes the value of an integrated One Health approach that fosters cooperation between the human health, animal health and plant health, as well as environmental and other relevant sectors, and underlines the urgent need for continued close work between the long-standing Tripartite, together with other relevant parts of the United Nations system and relevant stakeholders in this regard;

Also calls upon Member States to develop recovery plans that promote sustainable development and drive transformative change towards more inclusive and just societies, including by empowering and engaging all women and girls, especially those in vulnerable situations;

Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to reduce the risk of the economic, social and environmental impacts of disasters, many of which are exacerbated by climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss, and emphasizes the need to support and invest in adaptation and action at all levels to enhance efforts to build resilience through, inter alia, disaster risk reduction, community empowerment and participation and the sustainable management of ecosystems and the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity, including wildlife, to reduce the likelihood of zoonotic infections and the impacts and costs of disasters;

Urges Member States to adopt a climate- and environment-responsive approach to COVID-19 recovery efforts, including by aligning investments and domestic policies with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement7 and the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,³⁰ reversing biodiversity loss, and strengthening approaches that reduce emissions and enhance both resilience and efficiency, such as increasing the global share of renewable energy, promoting pathways towards climate-resilient development, developing more ambitious national plans and, for parties to the Paris Agreement, communicating or updating their nationally determined contributions in 2020, immediately curbing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving sustainable consumption and production patterns, taking climate change and biodiversity into account in fiscal planning, budgeting, public investment management and procurement practices, and emphasizes in this regard that mitigation of and adaptation to climate change represent an immediate and urgent global priority, and stresses the importance of mobilizing means of implementation from all sources, including adequate financial support, inter alia, for mitigation and adaptation, taking into account the specific needs and special circumstances of developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change;

³⁰United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1771, No. 30822.

Recognizes that substantial digital divides and data inequalities exist within and among countries and regions, and between developed and all developing countries, and that many developing countries lack affordable access to information and communications technologies, and urges Member States and other relevant stakeholders to accelerate the catalytic role that digital technologies play in reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, health, communication, commerce and business continuity and to take concerted action to further digital governance and economy, scientific research, emerging technologies and new data sources and to build resilient, inclusive and integrated data and statistical systems, under the leadership of national statistical offices, that can respond to the increased and urgent data demands in times of disaster and ensure a path towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Partnerships, commitments and the way forward

Encourages the continued implementation of current reforms of the United Nations development system, and affirms that a reinvigorated resident coordinator system allows for better, more integrated and coherent support to countries and that a strategic, flexible, country-owned, results- and action-oriented United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, as well as its transparency and accountability, will help to support countries’ response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic while safeguarding and accelerating progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;

Encourages the United Nations development system and the United Nations country teams, in close cooperation with international financial institutions and other relevant international stakeholders, to support countries’ responses to the pandemic and its consequences based on countries’ programme needs and priorities, including by building on the United Nations Framework for the Immediate Socioeconomic Response to COVID-19, and helping to develop preparedness capacities to prevent, detect and respond to ongoing and future public health threats, including the regional challenges of a cross-border nature;

Urges the strengthening of international cooperation at all levels, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, as well as public-private partnerships to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic and its consequences, including by exchanging information, scientific knowledge and best practices and intensifying the contributions of such partnerships to the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Encourages Member States to engage all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector and academia, as appropriate, through the establishment of participatory and transparent multi-stakeholder platforms and partnerships, to provide input to the development, implementation and evaluation of health- and social-related policies and reviewing progress for the achievement of national objectives for universal health coverage;

Encourages Member States and other stakeholders, including the private sector and international financial institutions, to mobilize a large-scale, coordinated and comprehensive global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, taking note of the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Shared responsibility, global solidarity: responding to the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19”, in which the need for a multilateral response amounting to at least 10 per cent of global gross domestic product is highlighted;

Urges Member States and other stakeholders to mobilize resources to support United Nations appeals to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, while underlining the importance of rapid and flexible funding and for these efforts not to replace or divert resources away from other emergencies or ongoing work to safeguard progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and supports the Central Emergency Relief Fund and country-based pooled funds, which have already played a key role in the humanitarian response, and will continue to do so;

Urges Member States and all relevant actors to align investments with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including investments supporting progress towards compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005),³¹ universal health coverage and reduction of inequalities, to help to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as pandemic preparedness and the prevention and detection of and response to any future global health threats, including outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance;

³¹World Health Organization, document WHA58/2005/REC/1, resolution 58.3, annex.

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to work with all relevant stakeholders and mobilize the United Nations network of partnerships to support Member States, upon their request, and other actors in national, regional and international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic;

Also requests the Secretary-General to provide regular updates to the General Assembly on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences and to report thereon to the Assembly at its seventy-fifth session;

Decides to follow up on the implementation of the present resolution under the item entitled “Global health and foreign policy” of the agenda of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly.